Apparatus for refining petroleum.



M. H. WARREN. APPARATUS FOR RBFINING PETROLEUM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 17, 1918.

Patented Sept. 15, 1914. 7

witnesses;

MURRAY H. WARREN,

or ninxrco, mExIco.

APPARATUS FOR REFINING PETROLEUM. I

Application filed November 17,1913. Serial No. 801,375.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 15, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MURRAY HELLER WARREN, acitizen of the United States, re-. siding at the city of Mexico, Mexico,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in pparatus forRefining Petroleum, of which he following is a'specification- Thisinvention relates .to apparatus for refining petroleum.

The object of the invention is, in a ready, practical, rapid, andcontinuous manner, fra ctionally to distil heavy hydrocarbon oils, toseparate the'lighter products from the heavier, conserve the former asproduced, and present the latter to repeated revaporization, wherebysubstantially the entire bulk of a given charge will be converted intoproducts having any desired specific gravity.

With the above and other objects in view, as will appear'as the natureof the inven: tion is better understood, the same'consists, generallystated, in a refining apparatus embodying a plurality of condensers, aplurality of exchangers, and a plurality of stills, combined with meansfor supplying oil to the. stills in thin sheets or films, and with meansfor conve ing the lighter and heavier products rom the stills to theexchangers, whereby the oil contained in the latter will be heated byradiation from the pipes conveying the vapors from the stills, and withcondensers through which, by means of suitable conduits, the heatedgases orproducts are led through the condensers, the lighter productsbelng conserved, and the heavier residues being returned forrevaporization.

The invention consists further in the various novel details ofconstruction of an apparatus for vaporizing oil as will be hereinafterfully described and claimed.

- In the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, andin which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts:Figure 1 is a view in side elevation, partlyin section, of one form ofapparatus embodying the features of the present invention. Fig. 2 is asectional detail view of a modified 'formof apart of the, structure.Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional; view through a modified form of still.

Referring to the .drawings, and to Figi'i thereof, 1 and 2. designatetwo conde casings, 3 and 4 two exchanger casings,

oil a tortuous movement.

.5 and 6, two still casings or units. These casings may be of anypreferred contour in cross-section and will be constructed-in suchmanner as to withstand any degree of pressure to which they may besubjected.-

Arranged within the stills 5 and 6 is a series of 'baflles 7 whichproject from opposite ends ofthe casing, and terminate short thereof,whereby to impart t0 the supplied Communication is established betweenthe two stills by an opening 8 arranged adjacent to one end thereof. Asin the operation of thenpparatus there might be a tendency for carbon toaccumulate on the baflles 7 one end of each of the casings or units isprovided with a removable cap 9 which is of a construction commonlyemployed in structures of this character. 4 V

' As will be obvious, some means should be provided whereby a supply ofwater may be furnished to the condensers l and 2, and in this instance,each of the condenser casings is shown as provided at one end with avalved supply pipe 11 and at its other end with avalved discharge pipe10 and by this arrangement a fresh sisipply of water may 1 be fed to thecondenser s required.

Arranged in the condenser 1 aretwo members 12 and 13 of a pipe that isdesignedto convey the heavy vapors to a suitable point for re-usethrough the branch 13, the

leg 12 having a verticallyeextending branch.

14, the terminal of which is curved and projects within a trap 15 intowhich the heavier products are recelved from .thelower still 5' througha coiled pipe 16, two branches 17 w and 18 of which are disposed withinthe exchanger 4.

The condenser 2 has arranged within it two members 19 and 20 of apipethat is designed to convey light vapors. to a suitable point of storagethrough the branch 20, the leg 19 having a vertically extending branch,21, the terminal of which is curved and projects within a trap 22 intowhich the lighter products are received from {the upper still 6 througha coiled pige, two branches 23 and 24 of which are isposed within theexchanger 3, the branch 24 entering the trap 22, while the branch .23projects outward through the head of the exchanger 3 andjextends upwardin a verti-' .caljbranch 25 above the top of the still 6,

then beat at anobtuse anle to the 1 25 forming a branch"'26', t eterminal of which is down turned, and enters the still 6 adjacent towhat may betermed its rear end. The branch 25 is provided with a valve27 and the bend between the branches 16 and 17 with a regulating valve28, and by suitably adjusting these valves, the escape of the lighterand heavier products from the stills to the exchangersand thence to thecondensers may readily be controlled. a,

Disposed adjacent to one end of the apparatus is a pump 29 havingcombinedwith it a pressure gage 30 and extending from the pump is'a pipe31 that enters the exchanger 3 adjacent to its bottom, the pump being inconnection With a suitable supply of oil for supplying the latter to theexchanger 3, and from the latter through a vertical pipe 34, into theupper exchanger 4. The oil from the upper exchanger is led to the still6 through a pipe 35 carrying a valve 36 by which the supply may readilybe controlled. I

In order to efi'ect vaporization of the. oil in the stills, it isnecessary that superheated steam under high pressure should be suppliedthereto, and this is .furnished through a pipe 37 carrying aregulatingvalve 38, the inner end of the pipe being projected into thebottom of. the still 5 near its outer end.

. As shown in Fig. 1, the, bafiles 7 are flat plates which are as usual,fixedly secured within the stills, but under some conditions, it may bedesired to have the bafiles removable in order to 'permit freeingtherefrom of any accumulated carbon deposited thereon from the action 4of heat. To accomplish this result, the arrangement shown in- Fig. 3 isemployed wherein the still 39 is shown as provided with a transversepartition 40 arranged on each side of which is a trough 41 and 42respectively, the sides, 43, of said troughs extending above and belowthe bed of the trough and arranged on .oppositelinclines in order toconform somewhat to the cross-sectional area of the still. As shown inFig. 1, but two stills are employed, but

should it be desired toinstali a series of stills arranged in verticalorder, the construction shown in Fig. 2 will be adopted wherein eachstill is provided with exterior flanges 44 which will form a means ofconnection with the next adjacent still.

Having described the structure of the a paratus, the manner of itsoperation w 11 *now be explained. Assuming the still to be empty, thepump 29 is started, and theoil is forced into the lower exchanger 3,thence through the pipe 34 to the up r exchan er 4- and thence throughthe pipe 35 to the iipper still 6, where it flows 1n athin sheet uponthe bafiles 7 in opposite directions and escapes through the opening 8into the lower still 5. When the oil starts to enter the still, or justprior to its entrance thereto, the valve 38 is opened and superheatedsteam under high pressure passes through the near its bottom with anoutlet 45 through which the water of condensation can escape. The vaporsrise to the top. of the trap and enter the pipe 19 and pass through thebranch 20 to a place of storage, the water in the condenser in which thebranches 19 and 20 are disposed serving to condense the vapors in amanner that will be obvious. The heavier products enter the branch 16,thence to the branches 17 and 18 within the exchanger 4 and "escapethrough the latter branch to the trap 15, the latter being provided Withan escape opening 46-through which the water of condensation may escape.The vapors rise to the top of the trap, enter the branch 14, thence passto the branches 12 and 13 which are disposed Within the condenser 1, andescape from the latter branch to a place of storage whence they may beremoved for use, or be returned for re-vaporization. During theprocedure the pump is kept constantly working so that the supply of oilto the exchan ers'will remain. constant, thus to maintam an equaltemperature therein. The discharge of the products may readily beregulated by the valves 27 and 29, thus to overn the quantities of vapordrawn o and the length of time the oil is exposed to the destructiveaction of heat anddpressure within ing. By dividing the oil into smallunits, the employment of high pressure will be permissible, and in caseof rupture of either of the stills, the small quantity of liquidcontained within the still combined with the smothering effect of thesteam uniting with the vapors will prevent serious accident.

By the foregoingdescription, it will be the stills for repeatedvaporization or crack:

seen that although the-improvements of this apparatus are com arativelysimp1e i11 character, they.will e thoroughly efficient for accomplishingthe object designed andmaximum of products in the minimum of comprisinga-plurality of condensers, a plurality ofexchangers, a pluralityof-communij Gating stills, a series of longitudinally-dis will, inoperation, result in the output of the the condensers.

posed within each of said stills, each of which projects from one end ofthe still and terminates a distance away from the opexchangers to thestills, means for supply-- ing superheatedsteam under high pressure tothe stills, and meansffor conveying the lighter and heavier vaporsfromthe stills to 2. An apparatus for refining petroleum,

comprising a plurality of condensers, a plurality of exchangers, aplurality of commu nicating stills, a series of longitudinallydisposedbafiles' within each of said stills; each of which projects "from oneend of the still and terminates a distance away from the opposite end toprovide a tortuous path for the oil, and supply it in thin streams orfilms, means for supplying oil to the exchangers, means for conveyingoil from the exchangers to. the stills means for supplying superheatedsteam under high pressure -to the stills, means for conve ing thelighter and heavier vapors from t e stills to the condensers and trapsco-acting with the latter means for carrying oil the waters ofcondensation.

' In testimony whereof Ihereunto afiix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

' MURRAY H. WARREN. Witnesses:

LYLE J many, R. Gnovn.

